Senjo

Japan Day 7

Overview

I have a personal project of running 1000 miles on every continent. On May 27, I started running through the Indian Himalaya mountains inspired by the “Great Himalayan Trail” (GHT), a concept of linking the Himalayas together in one thru hike. In 24 days, I covered 379 miles, the great majority of which above 3400m. On June 29, I started running through Japan in Part 2 of 2025’s production of I Run Earth in Asia.

Why am I doing this? To see what I can do, see the earth, and raise money for charity! My runs have raised over $20K for charity since 2024. In this run, I chose to support Rise Against Hunger, which provides school feeding programs across the world. You can learn more about RAH and donate here.

And on the seventh day…

I still had no appetite. Dang. Nonetheless, my spirits were high. I was determined to complete my traverse of the southern Japanese alps.

4:06am. Norda time.

Sunrise

I got above tree line pretty quick for my final climb up to Mt Senjo, one of 21 of Japan’s 3000-meter peaks

something strange happened as i climbed: I started feeling hungry, starving even! I took out my snacks and started nibbling. They went down with only a little bit of nausea. This is promising!

Nice views from the top! I met many Japanese people coming up from the other side. On the way down, I stopped at the hut and bought three bread rolls. I finished them hastily. My stomach still felt funky, but I felt confident in my ability to eat!

Scorched

When I met Paul Deckret (@naganoadventures) a couple days prior, he gave me a tutorial on downhill trail running. I have never seen someone run as fast downhill as him. He holds the record on just about every downhill Strava segment in the Japanese alps. With Paul’s tips in mind, I blazed out of the Alps from Senjo.

Paul’s tips:

1. Ditch the poles (dedicate all brainpower to foot placement)

2. Anticipate how you will slip instead of try to prevent

3. Get over the fear of falling and have fun. Confidence makes a difference

4. You can oscillate between the sides of the trail to control speed and redirect your momentum away from the fall-line

5. You can take irregular steps (like a gallop) to sort of hop over terrain with a lot of bulging rocks

6. You’re not gonna go faster unless you put some intention into it

I came up with some more tips for myself after practicing Paul’s:

1. Look far ahead

2. Take the longest stride possible… leap when you can

3. Clear your head, less thinking

I got so immersed in the downhill that I ran within 15 meters of a bear without noticing. When the bear saw me, it took off running in the opposite direction

Cicada

Nice dirt bike parked at the trailhead

Back to the Japanese countryside. More ghost towns. Where are all the people?

Strawberry-looking raspberry. Scrumptious

I ran down roads into the valley in order to start my way over to the Central Japanese Alps. I finished one set of Alps, but I still had two more to go!

Why is this road closed?

Confirmed the road is NSFC (not safe for cars).

I bombed down the road putting up my fastest miles of the trip so far. My destination was Komagane, the town at the base of the Central Japanese Alps. Paul had briefed me that Komagane would feel like paradise to me: full of convenience stores restaurants, and tourists. I couldn’t wait for fresh food.

flWoww

The final bridge

I made it to a charming Japanese restaurant for dinner. The server, a nice woman around the age of 55, spoke excellent English. I asked where she learned, and she told me, in another life before kids, she lived in Australia for a year.

I devoured my pork dinner (her recommendation), and then asked if she could call the local campground about their availability. The campground was full, so the server recommended the youth hostel in town and called for me. They told her I could stay if I arrived before 9pm. The time was 8:30, so the server told me she would drive me there. I was amazed by her generosity— the restaurant was still open for another hour and a half!

She went to tell her husband that she was leaving. I said, I can’t believe you can leave your restaurant while it’s open. She said, “My husband is the owner, but between the two of us, I am stronger.” In the US, we would say ‘You wear the pants’, I replied.

I loaded into the woman’s huge van and remarked that she had a big car. “Yes we have four kids.” Wow, that’s rare in Japan. She comes with me inside the hostel to introduce me to the owner and wishes me luck on my journey before saying goodbye.

My first night sleeping in a bed in over a week! The owner tells me the shower schedule is full and asks if I can shower in the morning? I say okay, but think I will make his bed dirty. After the owner smelled me, I think, he squeezed an extra slot into the schedule and gave me 10 minutes. I scrubbed as fast as I could and frantically soaked and rinsed my clothes before my time ended.

There was a scale in the bathroom, and I weighed myself. I was a little over six pounds lighter than when I left Hiroshima eight days prior. Almost a pound a day. Concerning no doubt, but I made it through safely and got my appetite back. Clear skies ahead.